Statistical Learning
Orthogonal symmetric non-negative matrix factorization under the stochastic block model
We present a method based on the orthogonal symmetric non-negative matrix tri-factorization of the normalized Laplacian matrix for community detection in complex networks. While the exact factorization of a given order may not exist and is NP hard to compute, we obtain an approximate factorization by solving an optimization problem. We establish the connection of the factors obtained through the factorization to a non-negative basis of an invariant subspace of the estimated matrix, drawing parallel with the spectral clustering. Using such factorization for clustering in networks is motivated by analyzing a block-diagonal Laplacian matrix with the blocks representing the connected components of a graph. The method is shown to be consistent for community detection in graphs generated from the stochastic block model and the degree corrected stochastic block model. Simulation results and real data analysis show the effectiveness of these methods under a wide variety of situations, including sparse and highly heterogeneous graphs where the usual spectral clustering is known to fail. Our method also performs better than the state of the art in popular benchmark network datasets, e.g., the political web blogs and the karate club data.
Biologically Inspired Radio Signal Feature Extraction with Sparse Denoising Autoencoders
Migliori, Benjamin, Zeller-Townson, Riley, Grady, Daniel, Gebhardt, Daniel
Automatic modulation classification (AMC) is an important task for modern communication systems; however, it is a challenging problem when signal features and precise models for generating each modulation may be unknown. We present a new biologically-inspired AMC method without the need for models or manually specified features --- thus removing the requirement for expert prior knowledge. We accomplish this task using regularized stacked sparse denoising autoencoders (SSDAs). Our method selects efficient classification features directly from raw in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) radio signals in an unsupervised manner. These features are then used to construct higher-complexity abstract features which can be used for automatic modulation classification. We demonstrate this process using a dataset generated with a software defined radio, consisting of random input bits encoded in 100-sample segments of various common digital radio modulations. Our results show correct classification rates of > 99% at 7.5 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and > 92% at 0 dB SNR in a 6-way classification test. Our experiments demonstrate a dramatically new and broadly applicable mechanism for performing AMC and related tasks without the need for expert-defined or modulation-specific signal information.
How machine learning will transform hospitality Information Age
The hospitality industry has not always been at the forefront of high-tech innovation or implementation. Until recently, most of the bookings, transactions and administrative tasks at a hotel were handled manually. Revenue management โ the process by which a revenue manager determines the best room rate at a given time in order to maximise bookings and revenue โ was a particularly difficult task. Revenue managers had to manually collect, review and analyse numerous data sets each time the rate needed to be updated, and then calculate the ideal room rate based on those variables. Even before the internet, this was a very time-consuming task, which meant that revenue managers could not update rates as often as necessary (to ensure a property's continued financial success).
Boosting Construction Industry With Artificial Intelligence โ AI.Business
Artificial intelligence will be responsible for the next industrial revolution and will change the world in ways we can't predict now. Perhaps you might read our previous articles about influence of AI in agriculture and farming. Construction is an excellent example of industry that will be affected the most from a replacement with automation. AI could save construction businesses money if it becomes smart enough to determine price variants in companies spending for construction materials or hiring engineering companies. We created a list of real use cases that will shape construction industry in near future.
How to choose machine learning algorithms Microsoft Azure
The answer to the question "What machine learning algorithm should I use?" is always "It depends." It depends on the size, quality, and nature of the data. It depends what you want to do with the answer. It depends on how the math of the algorithm was translated into instructions for the computer you are using. And it depends on how much time you have. Even the most experienced data scientists can't tell which algorithm will perform best before trying them. The Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Algorithm Cheat Sheet helps you choose the right machine learning algorithm for your predictive analytics solutions from the Microsoft Azure Machine Learning library of algorithms.
IEEE Xplore Abstract - Churn Prediction in Online Games Using Playersโ Login Records: A Frequency Analysis Approach
The rise of free-to-play and other service-based business models in the online gaming market brought to game publishers problems usually associated to markets like mobile telecommunications and credit cards, especially customer churn. Predictive models have long been used to address this issue in these markets, where companies have a considerable amount of demographic, economic, and behavioral data about their customers, while online game publishers often only have behavioral data. Simple time series' feature representation schemes like RFM can provide reasonable predictive models solely based on online game players' login records, but maybe without fully exploring the predictive potential of these data. We propose a frequency analysis approach for feature representation from login records for churn prediction modeling. These entries (from real data) were converted into fixed-length data arrays using four different methods, and then these were used as input for training probabilistic classifiers with the k-nearest neighbors machine learning algorithm.
What is Data Science?
Data science is deep knowledge discovery through data inference and exploration. This discipline often involves using mathematic and algorithmic techniques to solve some of the most analytically complex business problems, leveraging troves of raw information to figure out hidden insight that lies beneath the surface. It centers around evidence-based analytical rigor and building robust decision capabilities. Ultimately, data science matters because it enables companies to operate and strategize more intelligently. It is all about adding substantial enterprise value by learning from data.
Extreme Learning Machines: Random Neurons, Random Features, Kernels
Unlike conventional learning theories and tenets, our doubts are "Do we really need so many different types of learning algorithms (SVM, BP, etc) for so many different types of networks (different types of SLFNs (RBF networks, polynomial networks, complex networks, Fourier series, wavelet networks, etc) and multi-layer of architecfures, different types of neurons, etc)? Is there a general learning scheme for wide type of different networks (SLFNs and multi-layer networks)? Neural networks (NN) and support vector machines (SVM) play key roles in machine learning and data analysis. Feedforward neural networks and support vector machines are usually considered different learning techniques in computational intelligence community. Both popular learning techniques face some challenging issues such as: intensive human intervene, slow learning speed, poor learning scalability. It is clear that the learning speed of feedforward neural networks including deep learning is in general far slower ...
Classification of Big Data with Application to Imaging Genetics
Ulfarsson, Magnus O., Palsson, Frosti, Sigurdsson, Jakob, Sveinsson, Johannes R.
Big data applications, such as medical imaging and genetics, typically generate datasets that consist of few observations n on many more variables p, a scenario that we denote as p>>n. Traditional data processing methods are often insufficient for extracting information out of big data. This calls for the development of new algorithms that can deal with the size, complexity, and the special structure of such datasets. In this paper, we consider the problem of classifying p>>n data and propose a classification method based on linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Traditional LDA depends on the covariance estimate of the data, but when p>>n the sample covariance estimate is singular. The proposed method estimates the covariance by using a sparse version of noisy principal component analysis (nPCA). The use of sparsity in this setting aims at automatically selecting variables that are relevant for classification. In experiments, the new method is compared to state-of-the art methods for big data problems using both simulated datasets and imaging genetics datasets.
$\ell_1$ Adaptive Trend Filter via Fast Coordinate Descent
Souto, Mario, Garcia, Joaquim D., Amaral, Gustavo C.
Identifying the unknown underlying trend of a given noisy signal is extremely useful for a wide range of applications. The number of potential trends might be exponential, which can be computationally exhaustive even for short signals. Another challenge, is the presence of abrupt changes and outliers at unknown times which impart resourceful information regarding the signal's characteristics. In this paper, we present the $\ell_1$ Adaptive Trend Filter, which can consistently identify the components in the underlying trend and multiple level-shifts, even in the presence of outliers. Additionally, an enhanced coordinate descent algorithm which exploit the filter design is presented. Some implementation details are discussed and a version in the Julia language is presented along with two distinct applications to illustrate the filter's potential.